U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that the planned firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will not be livestreamed, reversing an earlier Pentagon decision that sparked criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
Trump made the announcement on Thursday, October 15, 2026, saying the execution would proceed as scheduled on December 3, but members of the public would not be allowed to watch it through a live broadcast.
In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump acknowledged that livestreaming the execution could serve as a deterrent against terrorism but said many Americans would prefer not to witness the killing.
“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” Trump said.
He added that the execution would proceed by firing squad, but would not be streamed.
The controversy began earlier in October when U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Hasan’s execution would be made public, with the Pentagon later confirming plans to livestream the event.
The proposal drew objections from lawmakers across the political divide, with critics warning that broadcasting the execution could turn the punishment into a spectacle and potentially provide extremist groups with propaganda material.
Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Thom Tillis, expressed concerns about the proposed broadcast. Democratic lawmakers also criticised the plan, arguing that an execution should not be transformed into a public spectacle.
Vice President JD Vance further fuelled the debate when he said he would not watch the execution if it were livestreamed.
Despite cancelling the livestream, Trump said immediate family members of the victims would be allowed to witness the execution in person if they wished.
The decision preserves the planned execution date while ending the proposal to broadcast the event to a wider audience.
The execution is scheduled for December 3, 2026, at the Texas military installation, although any legal challenge or other procedural development could affect the timetable.
Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to death for the November 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, a military installation in Texas.
He opened fire at the base’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in one of the deadliest attacks on a U.S. military installation.
If carried out as scheduled, Hasan’s execution would mark the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first by firing squad in more than eight decades, according to reports on the case.
The reversal brings an end to the immediate dispute over whether the execution should be broadcast, while leaving the scheduled punishment in place.
